Frankly Speaking

Fraser Health Authority is closing 80 hospital beds. In a health region whose population is growing faster than any other in the province, where waits at emergency rooms are by far the longest, and waits for surgery are often longer than in any other region, this makes absolutely no sense. FHA says it wants to move some care into the community, either at community care facilities or at home. More than 400 residential beds are being opened in the Fraser Valley, with 75 of those at Elim Village in Fleetwood and 92 at Evergreen Campus in White Rock. It also plans to open 10 new hospice beds. The fact that many more community care beds, hospice beds and facilities are opening is good news. People are living longer, and many have advanced care needs. They need regular care, and clearly an acute care hospital isn’t the best place to provide that type of service. However, simultaneously cutting hospital beds makes no sense at all. Most hospitals in the FHA, particularly in fast-g...

Frank Bucholtz photo Michael Kelly Gabriel of the Kwantlen First Nation speaks with guest speaker Wab Kinew at the Langley Truth and Reconciliation event on Saturday. The Truth and Reconciliation events in Langley over the weekend were powerful and groundbreaking. Former school trustee Cecelia Reekie spearheaded the event, with help from a very active committee, known as Working Toward Reconciliation. What really made it work so well was the active participation from the Kwantlen, Katzie and Matsqui First Nations. Reekie's own story , as a First Nations woman who only became aware of her aboriginal background as an adult (she was adopted as a baby by a Caucasian couple), is a significant reason this event happened. She has since forged a close relationship with her First Nations birth father, Cecil, who came down from Kitimat to attend the event. I had a chance to talk with him and found out a bit of his story. He is part of a very small nation that is now part of the Hai...

The byelection to select a new councillor in the City of Langley takes place this Saturday. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Douglas Recreation Centre. The byelection is to fill the seat of the late councillor Dave Hall, who resigned in November due to a battle with cancer. Sadly, he passed away in January. Normally, byelections attract little interest from voters. When a byelection takes place in the City of Langley (a rarity), a municipality where there is rarely more than 20 per cent turnout in general elections, chances are it will be doubly ignored by most people. Such may not be the case this time. What has made the difference? Simply the fact that there are nine candidates seeking office, far more than any observer had expected. Each brings supporters with them, and the number of candidates (and signs) has many people in the City talking. I served as moderator at the lone all-candidates meeting, held Monday at Langley Seniors Resource Centre. After hearing all of them...

There will be many more scenes like this in Willoughby in the coming years, with the provincial government's removal of the property purchase tax on new homes values at $750,000 or less. The provincial budget will have a significant effect on Langley, particularly Willoughby. That’s because of how the province has chosen to react to the growing furore over housing unaffordability. It is not boosting the level at which the property purchase tax stays at one per cent ($200,000) and it is not boosting the exemption for first-time buyers (it only applies to property valued at a maximum $475,000). Instead, it is eliminating property purchase tax entirely on new homes valued at $750,000 or less. To make up for the income loss (and that’s what the government really cares about), it will  boost the property purchase tax to three per cent on properties valued at $2 million or more. While this boost in taxes on the wealthy is welcome and long overdue, the government’...

Truth and reconciliation is coming to Langley this weekend - and hopefully it will come to many more communities across Canada. Former Langley school trustee Cecelia Reekie, who is part of the Haisla First Nation, is spearheading an event at Yorkson Creek Middle School which will feature as guest speaker Wab Kinew, who has been a living example of the power of reconciliation, both in his own family and in his work as a broadcaster and filmmaker. His book "The Reason You Walk" provides a large number of examples of the brokenness and damage caused by past Canadian policies towards First Nations people. It also details; how his family has coped with the ever-present damage caused by residential schools, broken relationships, lost aboriginal languages, physical and sexual abuse and many other things. It makes clear how the dysfunction caused by the forced removal of children from their families continues through the generations - but it also offers a great deal of hope. Langle...

Changes to the ambulance service, announced on Feb. 5 by the B.C. Emergency Health Services, should prove beneficial to residents in Surrey and Delta. A total of eight new ambulances are being added, and 34 paramedics are being hired. Three of the eight new ambulances will be based in Surrey, and none of them will be based in Vancouver. The city of Vancouver, with its high concentration of health institutions, has long been well-served by the ambulance service. The BCEHS has recognized that it is the fast-growing regions around the city that need help the most. Thus Langley and Abbotsford will also get two new ambulances each, while the North Shore will get the eighth one. Meanwhile, in the Tri-City area, new paramedics will be hired. This is a significant recognition that, in fast-growing areas (mostly within Fraser Health Authority), thee level of service provided isn’t up to the highest standards. BCEHS is targeting that in 75 per cent of calls for service, an ambulance w...

Construction work on an LRT line in Surrey may be underway by 2018, fulfilling a campaign promise from Mayor Linda Hepner. There’s a good chance that Mayor Linda Hepner’s campaign promise of LRT coming to Surrey will be fulfilled. Hepner initially said during the fall 2014 municipal campaign that there would be an LRT line up and running within four years. In other words, in time for the next election. She later backtracked slightly, saying that she expected the line would be under construction by 2018. Hepner was given a massive endorsement by voters, with her Surrey First slate winning all nine council seats. Since the election, she was named vice-chair of the Mayors Council and, along with chair and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, pushed for a “yes” vote in a referendum on additional funding for TransLink. That of course failed, at least partially because of over-the-top spending by TransLink and local governments to try and ensure a positive outcome. However, sin...

Surrey has a serious school overcrowding problem, but you wouldn’t know it from much of the media coverage about Lower Mainland schools. A dispassionate observer getting information from the Vancouver-based media would likely come to the conclusion that the biggest school-related challenge in the largest metropolitan area of B.C. is that 13 Vancouver schools may eventually be closed. This is because the provincial government won’t fund seismic upgrades unless school enrolment is at 95 per cent capacity. Enrolment in Vancouver schools has been falling for decades, and many schools are barely half-full. The Vancouver School Board has vigorously resisted closing any schools for years. The biggest challenge is, as community newspapers The Surrey-North Delta Leader and Peace Arch News have reported for many years, that many Surrey schools are overcrowded. This is due to two key factors – the amount of development taking place in many Surrey neighbourhoods, and the subsequent boos...